I bought my 96 Jeep 4.0L 4X4 a month ago and I have been fixing the wiring disasters the previous owner did to it. I have an issue with the jeep's battery dyeing overnight. I've traced it down to this capacitor (I think thats what it is), that is under the dash. The capacitor works with the only small 20A fuse from the fuse box under the hood. O.K. with the vehicle turned off and doors closed the capacitor is extremely hot, nothing I can do will cool it down, except for pulling the 20A fuse from under the hood. So I'm guessing it is a key factor of the electrical short in the Jeep. I've done a few try'll and errors and heres what I got.

20A Fuse and capacitor installed= Everything works (doorlocks, glowing ignition ring, radio) But will kill battery and likes blowing the 20A fuse.

20A Fuse and no Capacitor= Doorlocks, glowing ignition ring and only the constant 12V radio wire work. (12v memory wire has no power.) But battery doesn't die.

Any idea what this thing is and what else it controls. Is it possible the capacitor itself is bad or is there a short thats causing it to get hot? Any help would be awesome. Thanks

 

Only info I can give is my buddy has a 95 xj and he has the same thing, and i noticed while installing remote starter that it got so hot it burnt me. His battery is always fine though, hope any of this helps.

 

I was just putting new footwell lights in my 96 Sport (manual everything except Transmission) and noticed my "dealie" was red-hot too. I haven't had any battery drain problems, but it was really hot and I hadn't had the jeep running in 12hrs. I did however, have the doors open for ten minutes or so before I decided I should disconnect my battery. I've never traced the wiring for that, but I just figured mine was part of the door-switch/buzzer circuit, that controls the dome light, etc. I figured it was just from having the door open for a while. Now I'm not so sure... I have been having irregular high-voltage readings for a few months at random. I'm gonna check it next time I get in it and see if it's still hot after sitting closed and off overnight.

Does anyone know what that thing is and what it could cause if failing???

 

I believe that is the dome light relay... Could be wrong...

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I just looked through the schematics looking for wiring with those colors, and it appears that it is related to the interior lighting. My advice would be to unplug the hot item and see what doesn't work.

With that device (relay or delay device?) unplugged, check and see if that pink wire is constantly powered. Make sure the doors are closed, ignition off, etc. If it has power always, then it can be the source of your porblem, particularly if its hot. That would be an indication of a power load.

If it is constantly powered, pull fuses one at a time and see which disables it. More than likely it'll be a fuse under the dash, but there are some on the RH inner fender power distribution panel. Cross reference the fuse with the owner's manual chart.

You could take the part to a good auto parts place and see if they can identify it as a relay, delay module, etc.

 

Does the 3 terminal circular device have a part number or identification printed on it? How about the terminals, are they marked with numbers or "positive" or "negative" symbols?

 

It looks like a delay nee' relay that Ford once used. Made a buzzer go off for 60 seconds or so, then heated up and caused it to open, buzzer then stopped.

Ron

 

Go buy a new one and intstall it. It seems you've narrowed it down to that one item and I couldn't imagine that it would cost very much. May need to go to a Jeep dealership to identify it though (only check price and what the part is called, it will probably be cheaper to buy at an autoparts store.)

 

I couldn't find any part numbers on it. But I did find out it gives power to dome lights, the lighted ignition ring and the ACC key ignition power to the radio.